Report 1222
Report #1222 Skillset: Enchantment Skill: Greatrobes Org: Pyromancers Status: Completed Oct 2013 Furies' Decision: We will look into a tempering-equivalent for greatrobes. Problem: RNG still proves to be a burden for caster classes who rely on luck for enchanted robes and forged shields to be made with desirable statistics. This burden, however, has already been lifted from melee classes by enabling them to temper weapons and armor directly. 0 R: 0 Solution #1: Enable enchanters to temper greatrobes at a greater cost (power or otherwise) than it takes to normally enchant. Like forging weapons and armor, institute caps that cannot be breached to maintain balance. 0 R: 0 Solution #2: Enable forgers to temper greatshields like they do for armor and weapons. Likewise, impose a statistical cap to maintain balance. Player Comments: ---on 10/15 @ 04:26 writes: Total support, this has been a long time coming, it'll also temper the extremes of robe stats to help out warriors a bit ---on 10/15 @ 04:32 writes: Been there, done that, report 465. Support but good luck with that. ---on 10/15 @ 05:02 writes: I don't see this getting anywhere without suggested caps, at the least. Maybe something along the lines of 55/55 and 75/75? ---on 10/15 @ 13:02 writes: Aren't splendors usually seen as 70/70 for a good set? Really shouldn't allow tempering them higher than that, especially given the ability to have 52/52 artifact shields with gripping runes. You can still allow someone to shred the robes and remake them over and over to try to get a single stat higher than the 70 allowed, but if you want to use the easier syntax the cap should not be any higher than 70. ---on 10/15 @ 13:03 writes: Oh, and lest it give the false impression: I fully agree with this report. Making robes easier to deal with is -great- and should be implemented. I'm just poking at the suggested numbers a bit! ---on 10/16 @ 02:20 writes: This would greatly reduce the consumption of commodities in general, eliminating a large gold sink in the game. People who care about max stats are willing to try many times to achieve them. "Above-average" and possible outliers are the reward for that effort and expenditure. That is the way it should be. Averages are a little closer to 98/130 combined stats, so the caps proposed above seem high. This doesn't make robes "easier to deal with," it just makes the highest stats easier to get. Do we actually want all robes wearers to be practically assured of having the highest stats? Would that not throw other damages out of whack? There has already been a recent change regarding robes not degrading in terms of prestige/appearance when mended, basically ensuring that they are a one-time expenditure. People always complain about the game economy and the high price of credits, but have systematically devalued every other resource through changes that only cater to laziness and entitlement. OPPOSED. ---on 10/19 @ 20:15 writes: This isn't a good commodity sink, it's just terribly obnoxious. Playing 'roulette' is never a good alternative. If the costs need to go up for enchanting or crafting greatrobes in exchange for not having a big random factor, so be it. ---on 10/20 @ 13:37 writes: Sure ---on 10/21 @ 03:42 writes: 100% supported. Having been an pre-tempering forger for a long time, I always thought knights had it rough when trying to achieve a set of decent full-plate armour. The introduction of tempering was the single best change to any skill I've ever used as it reduced the sheer monotony of forging. I then spent a brief time as a caster and had to reassess my belief that pre-tempering forging was the single most boring thing I'd ever done. Getting a set of 70/70 splendours was the most obnoxious and boring thing I've ever gone through and it required finding an enchanter willing to give up their time. I'm firmly of the opinion that this change is necessary but I'd suggest a slightly different implementation - give tailors a new skill ALTER and have it function in the same manor as tempering. Tailors would then be able to use commodities to ALTER ROBES CUTTING UP/DOWN and ALTER ROBES BLUNT UP/DOWN at a cost of 4 silk per alteration - this would also help mitigate Talan's point about the loss of commodity sinks. Allow people with shears to use the ALTER skill with power reserves or a powerstone if wielded. I'd suggest set limits of 50/50 for standard greatrobes and 70/70 for splendours. ---on 10/21 @ 03:44 writes: I'm less bothered about forgers having the ability to temper shields although it would be nice and I also support solution 2. A change to how robes are created has been a long time coming and would remove one of the greatest barriers to new caster players getting hold of decent equipment. ---on 10/21 @ 15:49 writes: The problem is that you're mistaking what is technically possible with what should be expected. Base of greatrobes is 12/12. Base of splendours is 27/27. Average of enchanted greatrobes is around 50/50. Average of splendours is around 65/65. 70/70 is 10 points above average. That's why they are generally so hard to come by. It's not enchanting that's out of whack - it's players' expectations. The rule of thumb is "don't settle for less than 70/70," but that advice is only based on the premise that if you bother investing in this trade skill, you might as well shoot for the moon. If people had more realistic expectations, this would be a non-issue. If you want robes to be 70/70 with any reliability, why not just raise the base of splendours to 32/32? You can have what you want without changing the entire system. ---on 10/21 @ 20:18 writes: Whilst I appreciate what you're saying, it's unrealistic to expect people not to shoot for the moon in situations like this. In a game where min/maxing is possible its always going to be carried out by those who want to succeed, the follow on from that is that it becomes the defacto standard which everyone expects they should be able to achieve. I see this report as serving two functions: if armour protection from robes is standardised for everyone it makes balancing for knight/monk wounding easier as it means everyone will be working from the same base level. Secondly it removes a level of aggravation from the playerbase, since most people are always going to strive for the maximum level of protection. I can't help but see this as a good change and if further commodity sinks are needed to balance this change out then they can be added later. Apologies for any errors in this, was typed from my phone.